(a) The hearing officer shall only consider evidence that is relevant to whether the violation(s) occurred and whether the responsible person has caused or maintained the violation(s) of the Salinas City Code or other applicable State Code on the date(s) specified in the administrative citation. After considering all of the testimony and evidence submitted at the hearing, the hearing officer shall issue a written decision to uphold or cancel the administrative citation and shall list the reasons for that decision. The decision of the hearing officer shall be final.

(b) If the hearing officer determines that the administrative citation should be upheld, then the city shall retain the penalty amount on deposit with the city. If the hearing officer determines that the administrative citation should be upheld and the penalty was not deposited pursuant to a waiver under Section 1-19 above, the hearing officer shall set forth in the decision an order for payment of the penalty and a payment schedule for the penalty.

(c) If the hearing officer determines that the administrative citation should be canceled, the city shall promptly refund the amount of the deposited penalty.

(d) The recipient of the administrative citation shall be served with a copy of the hearing officer's written decision.

(e) The employment, performance evaluation, compensation and benefits of the hearing officer shall not be directly or indirectly conditioned upon the amount of administrative citation penalties upheld by the hearing officer. (Ord. No. 2423 (NCS), § 1.)